My Life Is a Soap Opera is just what the title entails. One moment I'm enjoying my teen life and boom--someone close to me dies tragically. I get married and envision living happily ever after and boom--my husband hits me so hard I fall to the floor. Moving forward I live with a man who tells me all the time how much he loves me and boom--all that time he is married. There's a song by George Strait titled "All My Exes Live in Texas"--well, all my exes are from hell! I can vividly hear the voice of the opening of the soap opera Days, as a child I was in awe looking at that hourglass while listening to the announcer say, "Like the sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." That hourglass is me with the addition of me always having a positive attitude. This book is a collection of memories that I choose to share.
My Life Is a Soap Opera is just what the title entails. One moment I'm enjoying my teen life and boom-someone close to me dies tragically. I get married and envision living happily ever after and boom-my husband hits me so hard I fall to the floor. Moving forward I live with a man who tells me all the time how much he loves me and boom-all that time he is married. There's a song by George Strait titled "All My Exes Live in Texas"-well, all my exes are from hell! I can vividly hear the voice of the opening of the soap opera Days, as a child I was in awe looking at that hourglass while listening to the announcer say, "Like the sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." That hourglass is me with the addition of me always having a positive attitude. This book is a collection of memories that I choose to share.
From the Emmy-winning creator and writer of All My Children and One Life to Live, a memoir of her trailblazing rise to the top of the television industry, including behind-the-scenes stories from some of the most beloved soaps of all time. Before there was Erica Kane, Adam Chandler, or Victoria Lord, there was Agnes Nixon, a young girl who dreamed up stories for paper dolls. Those tales she imagined--ones filled with ambitions, rivalries, and romances--would soon parallel her own path to success. In a memoir filled with as much drama as the soaps she penned, Nixon shares her journey from Nashville to New York City, as she overcomes the loss of her fiancé in World War II, a father intent on crushing her writing dreams, and the jealousy of her male colleagues on her way to becoming one of the most successful names in television. While fans will delight in Nixon’s own incredible life, they will also love her behind-the-scenes insight into her most popular shows. Inside, she shares the inspiration for Erica Kane and how she cast Susan Lucci in the role; an excerpt from the never-before-seen All My Children story bible; entertaining anecdotes about her shows’ beloved casts and special guests, including Carol Burnett, Kelly Ripa, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett; and more. But My Life to Live is also a portrait of a pioneer. Driven to use her ratings power for good, Nixon fought and broke network taboos by wrestling with controversial social issues ranging from women’s health, interracial relationships, and the Vietnam War to drug addiction, LGBT rights, and AIDS. By infusing her characters with sensitivity, humor, and humanity, she enabled millions to examine an opposite point of view. And long before Shonda Rhimes launched a golden age of female showrunners, Agnes Nixon positioned ABC to become the media giant it is today. She is a true television legend, and her candid and inspiring glimpse behind the curtain of the television industry will charm soap fans and story lovers alike.
Since the debut of These Are My Children in 1949, the daytime television soap opera has been foundational to the history of the medium as an economic, creative, technological, social, and cultural institution. In Her Stories, Elana Levine draws on archival research and her experience as a longtime soap fan to provide an in-depth history of the daytime television soap opera as a uniquely gendered cultural form and a central force in the economic and social influence of network television. Closely observing the production, promotion, reception, and narrative strategies of the soaps, Levine examines two intersecting developments: the role soap operas have played in shaping cultural understandings of gender and the rise and fall of broadcast network television as a culture industry. In so doing, she foregrounds how soap operas have revealed changing conceptions of gender and femininity as imagined by and reflected on the television screen.
The soap opera, one of U.S. television's longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink. Declining ratings have been attributed to an increasing number of women working outside the home and to an intensifying competition for viewers' attention from cable and the Internet. Yet, soaps' influence has expanded, with serial narratives becoming commonplace on most prime time TV programs. The Survival of Soap Opera investigates the causes of their dwindling popularity, describes their impact on TV and new media culture, and gleans lessons from their complex history for twenty-first-century media industries. The book contains contributions from established soap scholars such as Robert C. Allen, Louise Spence, Nancy Baym, and Horace Newcomb, along with essays and interviews by emerging scholars, fans and Web site moderators, and soap opera producers, writers, and actors from ABC's General Hospital, CBS's The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, and other shows. This diverse group of voices seeks to intervene in the discussion about the fate of soap operas at a critical juncture, and speaks to longtime soap viewers, television studies scholars, and media professionals alike.
When Susan Lucci and All My Children were introduced to the world in 1970, American television changed forever. Susan’s character, the beautiful, spirited, and mercurial Erica Kane, was an original—the first vixen viewers loved to hate. But while millions have enjoyed getting to know Erica’s many sides, the woman who played her has remained a mystery. In her long-awaited memoir, this very private actress, wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, friend, and entrepreneur pulls back the curtain to reveal her story. As charming, down-to-earth, and compelling as the woman whose story it tells, All My Life shines a spotlight on one of our most popular stars and reminds us of the power of dreams and how we can find the courage and tenacity to make them come true. This edition contains a new chapter about the landmark final season of All My Children.
In an autobiography by the actor who has starred for twenty-five years in "Days of Our Lives," Carey combines an insider's view of TV soap opera with an account of the many twists, turns, and tragedies of his personal life
As a special feature for this book, The Museum of Television & Radio conducted interviews with leading writers, producers, actors, and directors of soap operas. Dozens of revealing quotes from these interviews appear throughout the book - personal and professional comments by men and women who make their living in the field.
